Palm Trees

Editing Process: Still on sensory stuff.

Favorite Book of the Month: Gregor the Overlander By: Suzanne Collins

So there I was sitting in the middle seat of the airplane while we waited a half hour to take off. I don't know if this has ever happened to you, and this probably only happened because I couldn't get to any paper, but the creative switch in my mind was flipped on. I sat there trying to peer out the window, determined to savor my last glance of Arizona and palm trees. During those minutes I must have come up with a dozen ways to describe that tropical tree. A feather duster, a fancy arrow, a poodle's tail, fireworks, an upside-down mop. The list went on and on.

Then we took off and I had to commit as many of these descriptions as I could to my overflowing memory. I like to think that the main reason I write my stories down is so I don't have to remember them anymore and to make room for new ones. I've heard writers say that once an idea hits them, if they don't write it down, it is lost forever, but I prefer to believe that it is still there hiding among the dusty corners. One day the analogies I have forgotten will be reused, even if I never remember where I first found them.

Do you have a method for retaining your flashes of inspiration?

Phoenix

Editing Process: Starting Sensory Check
Favorite Book of the Month: Pictures of Hollis Wood By: Patricia Reilly Giff

Everytime I travel I love to stare out the window, be it plane or car, and check out the scenery. I especially like to look at trees, the way the branches twist upward and the color of the leaves. I suppose my mom is the influence behind that. Whenever we were in the car she would often exclaim over the trees as we passed. I used to roll my eyes and go back to my book, but there were times when I would sneak a look up as we passed under them. Our own private tunnel of trees would surround the road like a blanket on a rainy day.

Right now I am in Phoenix Arizona and the trees here are so different from my trees back home. There seem to be two extremes. The tall grey-green trees and the short, shriveled trees. There are also the palm trees, but I like to put them in a category of their own since I am still discovering how many different types there are.

I am amazed at how a different scenery can give a different sense to a story. Here the land does not know what to do with water. Everything is dry. It rained a few days ago and the streets flooded. Small ponds formed in low spots; if I didn't know better I would have expected to see fish swimming in them or at least a duck. The thing that surprised me the most is that the land is covered with small rocks and sand. According to my earth science class, water should be able to sink through that fairly quickly and yet something kept that from happening. I don't know what, but I like the concept of a place that needs water being unable to accept it once the water comes. It makes for a very interesting character trait.